The First-Ever Submissions to 6 Social Media Sites

There are many websites that are so integrated into daily life, you forget there was a time when they didn't exist. Every social media platform had to start somewhere, though. Looking back at the humble beginnings can be fun; often the first posts are mundane and otherwise insignificant. Here are six quaint examples of the very first submissions to now-popular websites.

1. Instagram

Oh, how time flies! In honor of their two year anniversary, the Instagram team shared the very first photo ever submitted to the app. The cute dog 'gram was taken by Kevin Systrom, the co-founder and CEO. Since then, he has posted over a thousand more pictures and acquired over a million followers.

2. YouTube

Here is the first YouTube video ever uploaded in all its 18 seconds of glory. It was shot by Yakov Lapitsky at the San Diego Zoo and features the co-founder, Jawed Karim, explaining the nuances of elephant trunks. Since this monumental filming, Yakov Lapitsky has become aprofessor of Chemical and Environmental Engineering at the University of Toledo. Karim launched Youniversity Ventures in 2008 to help young entrepreneurs with their new businesses.

3. Flickr

According to Paul Hammond, a former Flickr employee, the first picture submitted to Flickr was a test image in 2003. If you would like to see the first actual picture, it's right here. Apparently dogs are a great place to start when posting pictures is involved.

5. Facebook

This isn't exactly a submission, but the first Facebook account to belong to a non-founder belongs to Arie Hasit. He is friends with Facebook cofounder Chris Hughes, and apparently a big Philadelphia sports fan.

6. Reddit

Eight years ago, the Reddit admin decided to incorporate comments onto the website. The new feature was received with trepidation. Some Redditors thought it would lead to a decline in content, while others found the comments difficult to read. One Redditor simply wrote "noooooooooooooo." The very first commenter, charlieb, also had some reservations and responded with a practically ancient meme (albeit missing the vital "???" step).